ISLAMABAD, May 11: The Independent Democratic Group (IDG), led by Syeda Abidia Hussain, a minister in the Nawaz Sharif cabinet and her spouse and former speaker Syed Fakhar Imam, have decided to forge an alliance with the PPP Parliamentarians in the next elections, informed sources said.

The two are scheduled to fly to Dubai on Thursday to hold talks with PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto on terms of the proposed alliance, the sources said.

Begum Abida and Mr Imam will travel to the United States from Dubai. They planned to meet senior State Department officials and members of the US Senate and Congress.

The IDG was formed by senior politicians Mian Azhar, Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gillani, former Balochistan chief minister Taj Mohammad Jamali, Wazir Ahmed Jogezai and Ahmed Sadiq.

Most of the IDG members belong to the disgruntled group of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz who had quit the party after the fall of the party government and had helped General Musharraf form the PML-Q. Later, they distanced themselves from the PML-Q complaining that they were being ignored in the policymaking process.